Almost gone

At the beginning of the summer, I thought the vacation was flowing out slowly, like a thick stream of honey onto a bowl of Greek yogurt. I was thankful and I took each day at a time. 

I've gotten an internship for the summer. I've been busy but I'm apprecitaive of the experiences I'm gaining. I've been in kitchen too. I've made a sweet potato hash and spicy cornbread. I can now proudly say that I've made a cheesecake (sans mixer). I have also made a couple more blueberry yogurt cakes, uber healthy carrot cake cupcakes, a batch of semi-failed maple pecan muffins. (I decided to be all healthy and swap all the oil for yogurt, half of the flour for whole wheat pastry. Tough but edible when extremely hungry.)

Now that my schedule has arrived, and college worries are piling up, I know summer will be closing after a blink of an eye. I want to savor the rest of August. See, eat, watch, read and do things I can't during my senior year. (All because of two simple words. College. Apps.)

And now, on to these pretty bars. These blueberry crumb bars are the reeaaaaal deal. Everyone in my household enjoyed them. "Let's make lemon bars next time," my mom said, after she praised the bars. They're pretty and delicious enough to trick someone into thinking they're complicated. While snickering to yourself, recite the recipe you've memorized. (I did.) 

Blueberry Crumb Bars 

Barely adapted from Smitten Kitchen  

I literally memorized the recipe! I've only made one, teeny alteration. Can you find it?

1 c sugar
1 lemon, zested
3 c flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 c cold, unsalted butter
1 egg
---
1/2 c sugar
4 t cornstarch
1 lemon, juiced
4 c blueberries

Preheat the oven to  375 and prepare an 11x13 pan. I used a rectangular glass pan that has "3 quarts" etched on the bottom. 

Combine the zest and the 1 c of sugar together. Mix well so that the zest is fully incorporated.  Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Then, add the butter and the egg. Use a fork or a pastry cutter to incorporate. Press half of the dough into your prepared pan. 

Mix 1/2 c sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch together. Add blueberries and mix. Pour in the blueberry mixture. DO NOT LEAVE OUT THE PINK LIQUID! Sprinkle the rest of the dough on top of the blueberries. 

Bake for 40-60 minutes. My bars baked in 40; Deb's baked in 60. Cool before cutting.

A week in food

New York weather has been sucking, to say the least. Just a few days ago, the sun was beating down on us. On the hottest day, I decided to go to Upper East Side to do some errands. I came back soaking in sweat. I showered, slipped on a light dress, and made some watermelon lemonade via Smitten Kitchen. It was wickedly delicious. I normally dislike watermelon flavored anything (i.e. candy) but this was pleasantly light and refreshing.



Quinoa is my new best friend. Once washed thoroughly, it really does taste good with anything, including my favorite ginger miso dressing. There are specks of green peas and thin ribbons of carrots in this lovely pilaf (?) / salad (?). Not sure what to categorize this as. Recipe will be up soon.



I was feeling a bit, er, ambitious this day. I made vegan, baked falafel. I was feeling reeeeal good about my health until I dolloped on the tzatzki sauce. Oops. Recipe will also be up soon.



I've been wanting to try Molly's French yogurt cake since I first started reading her blog. Although the ingredients are simple, I never came around to make it. Um, this isn't it either. However, I'm pretty sure Ina based her recipe off of the traditional one that Molly makes. I add even less oil and more Greek yogurt. It came out wonderful. The cake was moist and the (fresh) blueberries added bursts of flavor and color. I stored it in the fridge for a snack the next day. I ate a slice and pleased with how it stood up. It tasted delicious cold as well!



THIS, my friends, was unexplicably amazing. Rich, dark, and intense would be the perfect words to describe this VEGAN CHOCOLATE SORBET. Yes, it's vegan. And yes, it is freakin' delicious. I used a natural cocoa with a bar of 85% Lindt chocolate bar. I dialed back the sugar by a wee bit, a teaspoon or so. I used the breaking-up-ice-crystals method because I'm too lazy to pull out my ice cream maker. (Yes, I know it's a great tool but I have the old one where you have to freeze the bowl. I have NO room in my freezer for a hunk of metal. A thin plastic Tupperware container- I have room for!) But anyway, even after not scraping it for hours, it came out rich and luscious. The texture is a bit weird for me but after a few minutes of melting time, the sorbet is creamy and soft and luscious and ohmygod delicious.



Like summer in your mouth. I just rummaged my fridge and counter tops for ingredients for a light lunch. Steamed stalks of asparagus, avocado slices, red onions slices, cherry tomatoes, frozen bread slice (toasted and rubbed with a clove of garlic), garlic, onion, balsamic vinegar, EVOO. Oh, and a poached egg. I love poached eggs. Have I mentioned this before? If I haven't... I LOVE POACHED EGGS. I use the Danny Ahern method. It is foolproof.



Blueberry banana smoothie + New Yorker. Saaah-weet. A banana, ice cubes, a handful of blueberries, a couple of dollops of Greek yogurt, and a splash of milk all went into my trusty and loveably Magic Bullet. Whirrrrrrrr and bam! Instant breakfast/lunch/snack/dinner. Very healthy too. Awesome.

That's it, folks! My week in, basically, lunches and snacks. I have a few recipes (quinoa with ginger miso dressing, homemade falafel) and rants (Momofuku's cookies) and raves (Babycakes!) to share with y'all soon. So stick around. And until then, visit me at Blocks Mag.

A couple of muffins

I've been eating a lot of chicken breast and poached eggs over steamed greens lately. The creamy yolk on the vibrant green is REALLY pretty. But I don't eat them because they're aesthetically pleasing. It's because of my excessive baking during the past weeks. I made three types of muffins, a clafoutis, banana bread, pumpkin bread, cheddar herb quickbread, choquettes, and cinnamon pull apart bread. I ate all those lovely treats and enjoyed them fully. Now it is time to do a little healthy eating, no? 

So, muffins. I'd pick them over cake any day. Cookie or cake? Cake. Cake or cupcake? Cake. Cake or muffin? Muffin! My favorites are the classics: blueberry and corn. After strolling down the baking aisle at my local supermarket, a small, yellow sack of cornmeal caught my eye. I immediately planned to transform the coarse meal into tender corn muffins. Scrolling through Smitten Kitchen's recipe at the supermarket, I picked up everything I needed... except the frozen corn kernels. Darn, I thought as I waited for the muffins to cool. Then I bit into one. Delicious, with or without corn kernels. (For the record, I have a bag of kernels, chilling in my freezer, waiting to be slipped into corn muffin batter.) Notes: I used white whole wheat flour and it gave the muffins a nice, slight nutty flavor. 

Banana bread is freaking delicious. There's no other words to describe it. Lately, my younger brother always rushed to school without packing himself anything for breakfast. I decided to make a hearty banana bread into portable muffins. I roasted the bananas, let them cool, then gave them a spin in the processor. We both love pistachios so I just added some crushed nuts into the crumble topping. The best banana bread made better with pistachios. Yes. Notes: I used white whole wheat flour. Like I said, pistachios in the crumble topping make it special. Roasted bananas gave it a touch more sweetness but I didn't really get a different flavor profile. I didn't have honey so I used agave nectar. 


Now, for something a little different. Music. I'm not really a "music person." I have a few friends who live, breathe, eat music. I have a few favorite artists who sing mostly teenybopper/ Top 40 music. (Mike Posner, Vampire Weekend, Maroon 5, Justin Bieber, One Direction) Then, I came across Hoodie Allen in Jake and Amir videos. And. I. Fell. In. Love. A UPenn grad and an ex-Google employee, Hoodie Allen (real name: Steven Markowitz) could do anything he wants. Seriously. He chose music and he excels at it. I bought his EP, All American, on the first day of its release. 4.99 - a bargain! This is one of my favorite songs off his EP. Listen! Love! (Then buy his EP!)